RAMBAN: Following the planned Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS) inspection on Wednesday, January 3, the Banihal-Khari segment of the USBRL project’s rail link is probably going to be opened. The Northern Railway’s Ferozpur Division has issued an advisory for people to avoid the Banihal-Khari track. According to a handout, Wednesday is scheduled for the second round of the mandatory inspection by CRS Dinesh Chand Deshwal for the opening of the 14.869-kilometer Banihal-Khari track. The CRS will be accompanied during the inspection by the CAO USBRL, construction officers, and other relevant officers. According to official sources, CRS will inspect the recently built railway line in the Ferozpur Division of the Northern Railway’s Banihal-Khari section, which will soon be open for electric train service.They stated that the CRS will test the section at high speed using a special train on Wednesday following the tram inspection. After that, new line train construction for the USBRL project will begin between the Banihal and Khari Stations. “Crossing the track at any location and trespassing is a punishable offence and is liable for prosecution under the Railway Act,” said railway officials. It will mark the beginning of a dream national project that has taken years of work between the USBRL’s Udhampur-Banihal Section. The Khari Railway Station is situated on the 111 km remaining in the USBRL project, between Banihal and Katra.“The Banihal-Khari Railway Station is expected to be thrown open anytime after January 3 whereas the entire Katra-Banihal stretch is scheduled to open by March 2024,” said senior officials from the Northern Railway.
